College Basketball Starts Tonight!

[GoMuskies]

URI is the lamb being offered up for slaughter at 7:00 tonight on ESPNU at Pitt in the first college basketball game of the season. There are a few other games tonight, but 7:00 is the earliest tip time.

I saw an interesting stat today on the Rams, who are 12 point dogs tonight: according to ESPN.com, URI has lost 22 straight against ranked opponents (I thought we were ranked when they beat us in the A-10 Tournament a few years back, but I defer to the Worldwide Leader).

[xubrew]

at least by season opener standards, rhody vs pitt isn't that bad of a game.

[Muskie1000]

agreed, we could be stuck watching Pitt play some directional school from down south.

[aceylone777]

Personally, my college basketball season starts on Friday. :logo::rolleyes:

[madness31]

My prediction is that RI gives Pitt a challenge. Pitt probably wins but should be reasonably close.

[aceylone777]

URI is no slouch -- should be a good game.

And an upset win, or a great effort, helps us A-10'ers out!

[CinciX12]

Dear ESPN,

Thank you for not making any college basketball games available on ESPN3 tonight. Thank you as well for deeming that I only deserve ESPN and not ESPN2 on your whole 'espnnetworks' site.

I want to burn down your offices.

What am I supposed to do in History tonight? Actually listen to things I already know about WWI?

[aceylone777]

Agreed -- I'm right now looking for a feed online. Do tell us if you find one!

Also -- UC Irvine @ Illinois (if history is THAT BAD) is on at eight on ESPN3.

[waggy]

You might have to download a viewer or flash player, but here you go..

http://www.channelsurfing.net/

[XULucho27]

More depth issues for Rhody. Their freshman power foward Shengelia, who was playing with a partially torn ACL, just went down. Had to be helped off the court then helped to the locker room. Poor kid.

[xumuskies08]

Is it just me or does URI's D look VERY bad (especially in transition)? They're are lucky Pitt has missed about 6 easy lay-ups or they would be down. Tough break for their big guy who looks like re-injured his knee.

P.S. just brought in their 7' 3" freshman!

[CinciX12]

37-36 at Half for Pitt.

Come on Rhody!

[aceylone777]

The transition defense for URI is just ABYSMAL.

[X-band '01]

I can understand URI pushing the pace of the game, but not to the extent that Pitt is getting all sorts of gimmies on the offensive end. It was a good effort by the Rams, though.

[GoMuskies]

Typical URI in that possession down three with a minutes to play: pass the ball aimlessly for 15 seconds and then fire up a 30 footer.

[madness31]

From the comments it sounds as though RI was terrible yet they were within 2 with 1:20 left in the game. Was it a close game because RI is underrated or because Pitt is overrated? I'm thinking a bit of both but since I didn't see the game it is just a guess. Maybe Pitt just had a bad game?

Could have been a great win for the A-10.

[waggy]

I'd imagine a number of players for Pitt had career highs.

[GoMuskies]

From the comments it sounds as though RI was terrible yet they were within 2 with 1:20 left in the game. Was it a close game because RI is underrated or because Pitt is overrated? I'm thinking a bit of both but since I didn't see the game it is just a guess. Maybe Pitt just had a bad game?

Could have been a great win for the A-10.

URI played well, but I never thought they were any threat to win the game. Like I said above, it was typical URI.

[STL_XUfan]

Rhode Island lived and died by the three during the game (I think they ended up 14 for 30). They kept it close and competitive but fell apart every time they got some momentum going.

Jamie Dixon at the end of the game complained (more joked) about scheduling such a good team this early in the season and will need to keep ESPN from talking him into it again. Personally I am all for ESPN doing their best to show some marquee matchups to open the season with a bang rather than a whisper like they did tonight.

[Masterofreality]

Rhode Island lived and died by the three during the game (I think they ended up 14 for 30). They kept it close and competitive but fell apart every time they got some momentum going.

Jamie Dixon at the end of the game complained (more joked) about scheduling such a good team this early in the season and will need to keep ESPN from talking him into it again. Personally I am all for ESPN doing their best to show some marquee matchups to open the season with a bang rather than a whisper like they did tonight.


Yeah, but one thing B-Espn will never do is talk a Big Greased team into playing a non=conference game on the road.

[STL_XUfan]

Yeah, but one thing B-Espn will never do is talk a Big Greased team into playing a non=conference game on the road.

I wouldn't blame that on ESPN, the big east conference passed a rule that no team is allowed to play in an OOC game outside their home state unless it is an early season tournament.

[rhyno2110]

I think we will have trouble with RI this year. Not sure if we can keep up with that pace. Delroy James is scary good, and they have some great athletes. I was very impressed for it being their first game, against a top 5 opponent nonetheless.

[aceylone777]

Anyone else notice the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chants when that Serbian player came in?

[CinciX12]

Anyone else notice the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chants when that Serbian player came in?

I tried to do that during a few games Freshman year. It goes over like the plague in case you were wondering and wanted to try later in the year.

[aceylone777]

I tried to do that during a few games Freshman year. It goes over like the plague in case you were wondering and wanted to try later in the year.

Damn, I was gonna try it -- guess I know now, haha.

[Backyard Champ]

I wouldn't blame that on ESPN, the big east conference passed a rule that no team is allowed to play in an OOC game outside their home state unless it is an early season tournament.

Are you serious? You may be joking, but I wouldn't put it past them to do that.

[Power]

He isjoking. Cincinnati plays OU out there. Why would you play a tough OOC schedule? Your conference schedule is going to be a gauntlet. It does Big East teams no good to go into conference play 7-5 or 8-4. Even if their loses are to quality teams. Why go to Butler? What good can come from that? Once UC gets back to full speed and attendance rises I wish UC would drop the shootout. They have very very little to gain and a lot to lose.

[GoMuskies]

a lot to lose.

UC does loes a lot in the Shootout. I'll give you that much.

[xubrew]

what is stupid about the coaches vs cancer tournament is that it really isn't a tournament. the final four is already determined in texas, maryland, pitt and illinois. even had rhode island won last night, they wouldn't have gone to msg in nyc to play in the semifinals. pitt gets in no matter what. what kind of crap is that??

i think college of charleston will give maryland a hell of a game, and perhaps win it. but, unfortunately, they won't get to play in msg even if they do. for a team like that, winning a game like that SHOULD mean that they get the opportunity to play against other quality teams and build up their case for the ncaa tournament. but, all it really means is...well...nothing outside of that one singular win.

murray state almost beat cal last year, but it would have been the same story.

i guess we have gardner webb to thank for this when they won against kentucky and went to msg instead. one year saint mary's (before they had any sort of brand name) beat california and advanced as well. the thing is, i thought that was actually sort of cool, and actually ENHANCED the tournament because of the story line. but, what the hell do i know??

[Muskie1000]

I tried to do that during a few games Freshman year. It goes over like the plague in case you were wondering and wanted to try later in the year.

Showing my age, but way back when Xavier first joined the A-10 and we played GW, that chant was classic. At this time GW's team had more foreigners on the team than they did USA players (at least players who actually saw court time). GW was also scary good so when we beat them hear the whole place was chanting USA USA. It was priceless.

[chico]

Showing my age, but way back when Xavier first joined the A-10 and we played GW, that chant was classic. At this time GW's team had more foreigners on the team than they did USA players (at least players who actually saw court time). GW was also scary good so when we beat them hear the whole place was chanting USA USA. It was priceless.

Who could forget Alexander Koul, Mescherakov and Iturbe. The foreigners and little Shawnta Rogers made them a fun team to heckle. Those were entertaining games.

Speaking of Rogers, one of the funniest things I ever saw was when we had the Cincinnati Stuff in town. Rogers' team played one night and he and Wayne Turner got tangled up going for a loose ball. They get up and Turner pats Rogers on the head, and Rogers just went ballistic. Absolutely hilarious.

[DC Muskie]

Showing my age, but way back when Xavier first joined the A-10 and we played GW, that chant was classic. At this time GW's team had more foreigners on the team than they did USA players (at least players who actually saw court time). GW was also scary good so when we beat them hear the whole place was chanting USA USA. It was priceless.

I remember those cheers and thinking how incredibly stupid they were.

Screaming U-S-A-U-S-A-U-S-A is about as original and logical as "Overrated"

Or "bounce, bounce Brick!" or whatever Sean had the kids doing for a year.

[Masterofreality]

. Why would you play a tough OOC schedule? Your conference schedule is going to be a gauntlet. It does Big East teams no good to go into conference play 7-5 or 8-4.

Some "gauntlet" when your wins come riding the pastry cart at home against players like these:

http://www.mccormick.com/~/media/Images/Recipes/Recipe%20Details/Desserts/Vanilla_Cream_in_Pastry_Shells.ashx?w=380
What a joke.

[MADXSTER]

Man DC, lighten up buddy. Undo that wedgie would ya.

[BandAid]

We chanted USA repeatedly at a volleyball game a couple years ago. We were playing Louisville, and a good number of players and their coach were foreign. The coach actually stopped the match, talked to the officials, and got them to ask us to stop over the loudspeakers. It was the only time I saw a USA chant work post-War of 1812.

[GoMuskies]

Of course, I assume that Louisville, a volleyball powerhouse, still dusted the Muskies that day. Right?

[BandAid]

Of course, I assume that Louisville, a volleyball powerhouse, still dusted the Muskies that day. Right?

That would be correct, but we kept it close.

[CinciX12]

I only tried to do the USA chant during free throws of foreign players. I thought it was hilarious, but the same powers that be who determined the word 'sucks' is the devil put a quick stop to it.

I forget the name of the player or even the team now, but I do remember that he laughed about it shooting the free throws. So I fail to see the harm in it.

[X-band '01]

Who could forget Alexander Koul, Mescherakov and Iturbe. The foreigners and little Shawnta Rogers made them a fun team to heckle. Those were entertaining games.

Speaking of Rogers, one of the funniest things I ever saw was when we had the Cincinnati Stuff in town. Rogers' team played one night and he and Wayne Turner got tangled up going for a loose ball. They get up and Turner pats Rogers on the head, and Rogers just went ballistic. Absolutely hilarious.

I remember the USA chants during my freshman year at X - Paul Daugherty wrote a column in the Enquirer the following day chastising the students. How did he not know that everyone in the crowd were U of South Alabama fans, for instance?

Then again, the women had a pair of players from Finland on their team at the time - I wonder if they would have found such a chant amusing.

[X-band '01]

Can you really call it a pre-season tournament when the final 4 for the 2K Classic is already predetermined?

[xubrew]

Can you really call it a pre-season tournament when the final 4 for the 2K Classic is already predetermined?

no

[xubrew]

college basketball is clearly one of the more popular american sports, among the other popular sports, it is the only one who's season opener goes virtually unnoticed. opening day for baseball is big, week one of the nfl season is big, even the start of the nba is somewhat big, and the start of the college football season is big. whereas other sports start off with a bang, college hoops seems to start off like a little toy pop gun.

there is ONE good game tonight, and that is georgetown at old dominion. i believe old dominion is an at-large caliber team, and is even better than last year's team that made the second round despite losing their best player in gerald lee. the crowd should be really geeked up, and i wouldn't be at all surprised to see old dominion pull the upset.

to be fair to georgetown, old dominion was a second round team last year that returns four starters and most of their bench and that didn't lose a single game at home last year, so it's not an easy game to win. it also won't really hurt georgetown in the long run, because it will be big news for a few days, and then be forgotten. old dominion has beaten georgetown before, and they still made the final four. that is further proof that playing on the road against mid majors doesn't hurt the big time programs, but i digress.

other than that game, there are great matchups like north carolina a&t at ohio state, longwood at kansas, eastern michigan at michigan state, southern at gonzaga, and so on. people will be glued to their tv sets tonight.

weber state at utah state is a halfway intriguing game that could end up effecting the bubble. it's one of the better big sky teams against what appears to be the best wac team.

other than that (and the xavier game, of course) there isn't a whole lot to be excited about. no wonder why college basketball gets so little attention early on.

[GoMuskies]

There are a few decent Big East openers (as much as the rest of their league sucks):

Georgetown @ ODU (as 'brew touched on above)
Syracuse vs. Northern Iowa
Seton Hall @ Temple
Rutgers @ Princeton
Louisville vs. Butler (Tuesday night)

Not a bad group of openers.

And 'brew, WKU @ St. Joe's is a pretty damned good game tonight as well.

[GoMuskies]

north carolina a&t at ohio state

C'mon, you gotta be excited when a Jerry Eaves coached squad takes to the road in the Big East!

[xubrew]

There are a few decent Big East openers (as much as the rest of their league sucks):

Georgetown @ ODU (as 'brew touched on above)
Syracuse vs. Northern Iowa
Seton Hall @ Temple
Rutgers @ Princeton
Louisville vs. Butler (Tuesday night)

Not a bad group of openers.

And 'brew, WKU @ St. Joe's is a pretty damned good game tonight as well.

i missed wku @ sju. too bad it's not on tv. it's actually a game that would be worth watching.

[xubrew]

damn!! old dominion comes up just short. i'm 0-2 when it comes to picking upsets so far this year.

the jeff bzdelik era at wake forest is underway!! they lost to stetson 89-79. stetson beat just five div1 teams last year and only one had an rpi better than 200. way to go wake!! that's gotta be discouraging. i'm not exactly encouraged by xu so far, but that's horrendous.

western kentucky ripped sju. whatever issues they were having a year ago appear to be worked out...at least for now.

everything else is pretty much going as expected. i think our game with western michigan, unfortunately, may have been the most exciting game of the evening so far...

[rhyno2110]

Gonzaga is shooting the ball very well against Southern tonight. I can see us having major problems with Gonzaga even with Mclean back by then. We are going to need Kenny to be very phyisical in that game. I really think our guards can keep Gonzaga's guards reasonably in check.

[xubrew]

Gonzaga is shooting the ball very well against Southern tonight. I can see us having major problems with Gonzaga even with Mclean back by then. We are going to need Kenny to be very phyisical in that game. I really think our guards can keep Gonzaga's guards reasonably in check.

we had all kinds of problems with western michigan, who doesn't have a whole lot of experience and is projected to finish in the bottom half of the mac. with that in mind, it is very easy to see us having major problems with a team like gonzaga.

[rhyno2110]

Gonzaga just had one of those interactive text your vote to a number poll. The question was "who will be Gonzaga's toughest non-conference opponents. The choices were Illinois, San Diego State, Baylor, and Kansas St. When San Diego State is a choice ahead of Xavier, it shows you what kind of season they think we will have. And I don't blame them.

[gladdenguy]

Opponents scores from tonight

Wake beats Hampton 63-56
Cincinnati beats Mt. St. Marys 69-59 (MSM cut it to 4 late)
Clemson beats Wofford 78-70 (Wofford now 0-2)
Alabama (possible opp) beats Troy 79-60
Old Dominion (possible opp) beats High Point 79-57
Florida plays Ohio St. Tuesday night